


Of traditions, christmas trees and beautiful things underneath

by the_milky_way



Series: 25 Days of Buck and Eddie [22]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: 25 Days of Fic, Boys In Love, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Tree, Established Relationship, Fluff, Idiots in Love, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Prompt Fic, Soft Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Soft Evan "Buck" Buckley, Soft Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz, prompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:28:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28244691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_milky_way/pseuds/the_milky_way
Summary: Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, that’s what they always say. It took Buck years to really understand the meaning behind it.or:Buck contemplates the meaning of beauty and comes to a decision about his future
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: 25 Days of Buck and Eddie [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2036098
Comments: 4
Kudos: 102
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales





	Of traditions, christmas trees and beautiful things underneath

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt for Day 22:
> 
> "Beauty"
> 
> and a prompt about Eddie and a Christmas tree.

Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, that was what they always said. It took Buck years to really understand the meaning behind it. There was the conventional meaning of beauty, of something being beautiful. The meaning everyone in certain circles of society or in certain societies was taught. Then there was what every individual considered beautiful. Both influenced someone’s views on beauty. Other factors like life experience played a role as well.

Buck never really thought about his concept of beauty. He thought things looked cool, views were spectacular or people were good looking. The words beauty or beautiful weren’t part of his regular vocabulary. It changed when he became part of the 118. Hen’s constant reminder about the beauty of life when they saved people, Chim’s rambling about beautiful memories made with good friends and chosen family, Bobby’s appreciative hum when someone called his meals a work of art and beautiful or Athena steadfastly calling him a beautiful soul - all that started to change his view on the ingrained concepts of beauty and what it meant to him.

Abby showed him that beauty could be found in simple conversations, in topics that were exciting and new. She showed him that growing into someone he liked was a thing of beauty, too. She also was the reason he doubted all that growth for a while again. But even that, even allowing himself to feel sad, to see things through tinted glasses for some time, let him see new facets of beauty, of beautiful things he found along the way.

Maddie returning, reminding him that he, too, had beautiful moments to remember and that there were so many different aspects of beauty to be considered, made him wonder what he missed in the years they didn’t have the chance to talk. Beauty was no longer just connected to the superficial or the surface of things. It no longer meant just a way how to look to Buck. Beauty could be found in so many things that he was sometimes overwhelmed by it. Not able to grasp why he suddenly considered a piece of music beautiful or even just the chance to hear someone he liked laugh in joy.

And then Eddie came along - and with him Christopher. Christopher, who made Buck understand, that it really were the most simple things in life that could hold a special kind of beauty. One that filled you with warmth and let you smile. Chris taught him a lot about how the boy saw life and its inevitabilities. Like how finding the right colored crayon for a drawing made it more beautiful because it made Chris smile. Or that the ocean still held so much beauty in it even if it could be very dangerous. Or how the most complicated things you were puzzling over for ages could have a very easy solution in the end.

Like the complicated thing Buck had been contemplating for days. 

How to approach, how to find the right words - that were two of the problems he’d been tangled up in. The other myriades of complicated roadblocks on his mind were connected to possibly moving too fast, to maybe ruining what they had. And these roadblocks made it really hard to come to a decision about what to do. 

It has been going on for weeks really, this being torn up about it. Maddie told him to just risk it, to take the step, to simply grab what he wanted for once in his life and then to hold on tight once he had it. He had been a little withdrawn, lost in thoughts and everyone noticed. He'd even thought about spending Christmas Even mulling over everything once again. But since Buck was weak, he couldn’t resist Chris’ pleading eyes. So he was spending Christmas Eve at Eddie’s instead of just showing up on Christmas morning like planned.

Chris was in his room, busy finishing the last Christmas Cards for family and friends, which left Buck alone with Eddie in the living room. They were busy with putting the finishing touches to the decorations on the tree - a tradition Chris had said. The last ten baubles were hung on Christmas Eve in the Diaz household. 

But something in the way Eddie moved, careful and soft, so different from the confident firefighter at work, had Buck halt and stare. The way Eddie’s henley strained a little at his back, showed off the defined muscles underneath, the way it bunched up at his hip to let just a bit of skin peek - Buck was mesmerized. Like he usually was but this felt different somehow.

Eddie was a sight of beauty. For Buck at least. Beautiful in body, mind and soul. Strong and caring, intelligent and funny. A great dad, an awesome friend and someone with a really good heart. Someone with flaws, with weaknesses that could hurt, with imperfections that let him fit right into their merry band of misfits. Buck didn't want to ever let him go again. Eddie was his place, his person, his definition of beauty.

Just the combination of it all had Buck frozen in place, bauble hanging from slack fingers, mouth open and eyes wide. He had known that he was gone on Eddie but to realize how deeply, that was all new. Like a sledgehammer really.

So Buck had to let him know. In this moment Buck just had to. He wasn’t torn or doubting himself, he just knew Eddie should know how beautiful he was.

“Beautiful.” It was exhaled into the warm atmosphere of Eddie’s living room. 

Eddie, taking a step back, turned his head towards Buck and smiled. Broad, warm, happy - making Buck’s heart jump, his fingers twist in the string of the bauble still hanging between them.

“Right? I think we outdid ourselves here,” He said all proud and happy.

“Oh. Yeah, the tree’s beautiful, too.”

The silence between them was loaded but not in a bad way. Just Eddie standing there, looking a little stunned at first and then with a small smile spreading on his lips. 

“The tree, too, huh?” Eddie stepped close to him, gently took his hand and untangled the bauble from his shaking fingers. 

It was placed on a branch close to them without Eddie’s eyes ever leaving Buck’s. This was not how he’d imagined things to go. There was no awkward babbling, no weird tries to explain his jumbled feelings, no panic about a destroyed friendship if Eddie didn’t want the same. Buck felt calm all over, fingers slipped between Eddie’s and moving closer when pulled. The light from the tree and the reading lamp by the couch lent a soft glow to everything around them. Eddie looked spectacular like this.

“What else is beautiful then?”

“You.”

No excuses, no babbling or deflection, just telling the truth. Buck felt a little floaty just then, like Eddie’s answering smile was lifting him up, carrying his happiness and tethering it to them at the same time.

“Me?”

“Uh huh… standing there all soft and happy. I just… you are one one the most beautiful people I know. And it’s not just the way you look. But how you are. I know I’ve been lost in my head lately. And I am sorry about that. But there’s something I wanted to do and for the longest time I didn’t know if I should.”

Eddie drew him even closer, so close that Buck could wrap his arm around his waist while the other brought their entwined hands up between their chests. The yellow light of the Christmas tree underlined the warm brown of Eddie’s eyes and Buck just had to lean in. He stole a soft kiss from the man in front of him. Just lips meeting, reassuring that they were here in this moment. But there were sparks, too. Something to follow up on later. Much later.

There was wonder in Eddie’s eyes, too, like he knew Buck needed to say more. And he probably did.

“And now?”

“Now, I think I should.” With that Buck slowly sank to his knees, one hand still entangled with Eddie’s while his other was searching for the small box he’d hidden in his hoodie. Just to be prepared he’d thought earlier. 

“Buck?”

“Just... let me be clichéd for now, okay? I just, I have been thinking about this for weeks now, ever since I saw this ring and couldn’t not buy it. I know we… this hasn’t been going on for long. And I probably shouldn’t be doing this on Christmas either but seeing you like this earlier, happy and smiling at me like this… Oh fuck, it.. Edmundo Diaz, will you make an honest man out of me and be my husband?”

Eddie was laughing by the end of Buck’s speech. Eyes full of happiness, fondness and laughter. And when he dragged Buck back up to his feet the kiss that followed was filled with all of it, too.

“That, Evan, wasn’t as clichéd as you probably thought. But it's romantic. And it is so you. I think we’ve been together for way longer than these last few months anyway. So yeah, let’s be husbands. I don’t mind.”

“You don’t mind?” Buck was pretty sure he was going for an outraged yell but what came out was a rather pathetic squeak. Eddie was laughing even harder while pulling him back into his arms.

“No, I don’t, ‘cause I love you and I want to marry you. Even despite the fact that you asked on Christmas and went all Hallmark on me.” Eddie held his hand out and wiggled his fingers. He could be damn sassy if he wanted to and Buck loved it. Between kisses and more laughter he slid it on. 

The ring on Eddie's finger was a sight of beauty, too. Different than Eddie himself but beautiful nonetheless. What was less beautiful but still rather cute was the outraged look on Christropher’s face when he realized that Buck had asked without him present. They had to promise him that he’d be the one to tell everyone. They were pretty much forgiven when all three of them placed the last bauble on the tree and let Christopher decide what to watch in the evening.

**Author's Note:**

> I know there already was a prompt that ended in a marriage proposal and this was sort of part of it but in the end didn't really fit with the theme of the other fic. So I decided to scrape it.  
> But then I was prompted with "Eddie and a Christmas tree" and I sort of figured that this old idea could fit with it. So there you go... have another marriage propposal from Buck.
> 
> Anyway, all remaining mistakes are mine as I lately seem to be too stupid to incorporate my beta-reader's suggestions without adding new typos.  
> Thanks so much for keeping up with me and my weird brain, A.  
> <3


End file.
